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Pork barrel in the sky

Speaking of Bush, an intrepid group of peace activists showed at Oakland Community College’s Orchard Ridge Campus last Friday to protest Dubya’s desire to pump billions into the Star Wars missile defense program. Not that Al Gore is exactly inspiring on the issue, but the $60 billion he wants to spend pales in comparison to the $240 billion the Bushter would spend.

“It’s nothing more than a massive workfare program for the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex,” says Keith Gunter, one of about six people who showed up outside the Bush rally wearing a Darth Vader costume. Gunter, a member of Peace Action of Michigan, says that after a while the Secret Service told the demonstrators they were blocking access should emergency vehicles be required. An intense debate over something called the First Amendment ensued. The protesters kept insisting they had a constitutional right to free speech.

“They were trying to shove us out of the way to a place where no one would see us,” Gunter told News Hits.

In the end, the SS got the black-clad protestors to relocate.

“They moved us onto a grassy knoll,” laughed Gunter. “No kidding. It was surreal.”